Measuring global poverty before and during the pandemic: a political economy of overoptimism
Date
2021
Authors
Sumner, Andy
Ortiz-Juarez, Eduardo
Hoy, Christopher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Abstract
The contribution of this paper is to question the ‘official’ estimates of global monetary poverty up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue there is a political economy of overoptimism in the measurement of global poverty. Specifically, we show that the methodological and presentational choices can lead to an over optimistic view of the levels of, and trends in, global poverty. We provide an up-to-date critique of the global poverty estimates and demonstrate how patterns of poverty would differ if small changes in methodology were implemented. We conclude with a theoretical discussion of why such methodological choices that lead to an optimistic view of global poverty levels and trends are made. Subsequently, we propose an alternative approach to global poverty measurement.
Description
Keywords
Global poverty, COVID-19, crisis, precarity
Citation
Collections
Source
Third World Quarterly
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
Open Access
License Rights
Creative Commons Attribution licence